Home Tour: A Spanish Painter's Stately Masculine Loft

Interior designer Lorenzo Castillo gives his artist brother¬ís modern loft a major makeover.

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Even the most contemporary structure can have a sense of history and soul. Such is the case with the Madrid home of Spanish painter Santiago Castillo, who, conveniently, commissioned the help of his Madrid-based interior designer brother, Lorenzo Castillo, to transform the space. Imagining the blank canvas with a monumental white spiral staircase, dark stained wood floors, and sleek wood-panelled kitchen cabinets, it's easy to see that the aesthetic could have gone in a more spare, modern direction. Instead, Castillo instilled this bachelor pad with nostalgia, romance, and masculine sophistication.
Wooden frames, linear leather sofas and armchairs, a bamboo dresser, and numerous accessories all share a common theme: a distinct cognac color. The warm masculine hue is balanced beautifully by muddy blue walls that mimic shades of the seas on a pair of vintage globes.

To complement Santiago's monochrome abstract painting, which scales the wall between the ground floor and the loft bedroom, Lorenzo stuck to a moody palette of blacks, whites, and grays in the bedroom. The colors repeat in an artful geometric tapestry that hangs from the canopy bed and a collection of vintage photographs from around the world -- both of which bring a sense of history and nostalgia to the room.

With a pared-down palette and few patterns to speak of, form is paramount in Santiago Castillo's home. Echoing the curves of the apartment's spiral staircase, Lorenzo integrated shapely pieces in the living room, like small wooden sculptures and a table with horse legs. The theme continues upstairs in the loft bedroom, which features circular vents and round-back leather club chair.